Down with DeLay

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has caused his fellow Republicans one headache after another, and it appears that the tide of support for DeLay within the Grand Old Party is beginning to ebb. Admonished last year by the House Ethics Committee, DeLay has recently been facing renewed questions about more improper dealings. In January, GOP leadership rammed through legislation altering ethics rules—changes which many Democrats felt served only to protect DeLay from a full-blown ethics investigation. Last Wednesday, however, the Republican-dominated House voted to repeal these changes. We applaud the Republican decision to stop defending DeLay from his deserved investigation through obstructive legislation, and for their own good we hope that Republicans will take the further step of relieving DeLay of his post as Majority Leader.

Some House Republicans have claimed that they voted for Wednesday’s resolution only because of the political reality of the Democratic presence on the Ethics Committee. Democrats hold five of the 10 seats on the committee and resolved to shut it down until Republicans agreed to reverse January’s rule changes which “effectively neutered the committee,” in the words of one Democrat. In truth, however, the vote symbolizes the end of the GOP’s support for its wayward son, DeLay. The reversal of rules that limited the committee’s investigative purview will likely precipitate a much needed House investigation of the controversial Republican leader.

DeLay has come under scrutiny for a host of questionable acquisitions and associations. A 1997 trip to Russia, during which DeLay played golf and met with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, was recently discovered to have been indirectly underwritten by a company that also financed a $440,000 lobbying campaign in support of the Russian government. House ethics rules bar congressmen from receiving travel reimbursement from lobbyists. Similarly shady trips to South Korea and England have attracted further attention. In addition, reports sprang up earlier this month that DeLay’s wife and daughter received more than $500,000 from the congressman’s political action committee, an unusually large amount for the campaign work they contributed. To top it off, DeLay’s association with the Republican push for redistricting in his home state of Texas has cost him much political capital in Washington. Three of DeLay’s associates have been indicted in relation to the effort, and DeLay has continued to advocate Republican gerrymandering.

The charges against Congressman DeLay are mounting, and the time has come for DeLay to be held accountable for his actions. At last, Republicans have begun to realize that this majority leader is garnering more bad press for their party than he is worth. If they are wise, GOP leaders will press for DeLay to be replaced by someone who can restore integrity to the Republican Party and earn the trust of the American people.